COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M University System is banning e-cigarettes and vaping across all of its campuses and properties.
Chancellor John Sharp sent a memo to all university presidents and agency directors instructing them to implement the ban "as soon as is practical."
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"I do not want to take any unnecessary chances with the health of our students, faculty and staff. To that end, I am directing the presidents of each of the 11 universities and the directors of the eight state agencies within The Texas A&M University System to ban the use of e-cigarettes and vaping as soon as possible," Sharp said.
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Smoking is already banned in most places within the A&M system, but the vaping ban is even broader.
The memo instructs that the ban on vaping "is to be mandatory and expanded to every inch of the Texas A&M System."
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That includes all of the university campuses across the state, as well as laboratories, the forest service, engineering and agriLIFE extensions and the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
"This health threat is serious enough that I want to see the ban include every building, outside space, parking lot, garage and laboratory within the Texas A&M System. The ban also should extend to every facility of our $950 million research enterprise and all system properties in the 250 Texas counties in which the Texas A&M System has a presence," Sharp said.
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The ban extends to the sale of any e-cigarete products or vaping paraphernalia on campus.
Sharp told campus administrators that their actions on the matter “could be saving the lives of those within The Texas A&M System family.”